Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep) will have their first ‘live’ time trial test of 2024 at the Volta ao Algarve on Saturday afternoon, in the shape of a rugged 22-kilometre course in and around the coastal town of Albufeira.
After rarely using his time trial bike over the winter, Van Aert has stated that he has very few expectations of an outstanding performance in the Algarve test. That said, in a year where he has made the Olympic time trial a major target, any race against the clock is important, be it the Algarve or the two, much longer, TTs in the Giro d’Italia.
Evenepoel is a very different story, at least in the short term. Just four seconds behind race leader Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe), gunning for a record-equalling third overall victory in the Volta ao Algarve is very much on his radar.
While both riders and their teams will have their own internal goals, the points of comparison in such a deep time-trialling field at Algarve make it an even more valuable exercise. Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Stefan Bissegger (EF Education EasyPost) are all renowned specialists, and Martínez, too, is a four times Colombian TT National Champion.
“We have carried out tests in the Specialized wind tunnel in California at the end of 2023,” Evenepoel’s trainer Koen Pelgrim told Dernière Heure on Saturday. “I can’t give all the details, but we carried out some minor changes in Remco’s position to find the best balance between comfort and efficiency in terms of power and aerodynamics. That’s the key equation.”
“They weren’t major gains, but as every detail can be decisive…”
Evenepoel then returned to Milan for a second series of wind tunnel tests in the middle of January, to test out a new series of overshoes as well as different combinations of skinsuits and helmets.
“To be precise about how much difference a time triallist’s clothing can make,” Pelgrim said, “the difference that separated [gold medallist] Remco from [runner-up] Ganna in the last World Championships” - a scant 12 seconds - “could all be due to their clothing.”
According to Derniére Heure, Van Aert has also changed his position slightly on his time trial bike, thanks to tests carried out on the track in Zolder, Belgium. “We’ve gone back to the position he used to have in 2022 with his arms slightly higher,” Visma-Lease A Bike coach Mathieu Heijboer told the newspaper.
“Nothing can compare to a race when it comes to testing, so trying out these changes from the start of the season is particularly important because it allows you to adapt what’s needed for the key dates later on.”
Heijboer told the newspaper he was not expecting a top result on Saturday from Van Aert at this point in the season, particularly given the level of the competition. However, that wasn’t a problem as the Classics were his initial main target, with the summer goals only becoming a focus deeper into the year.
“Before the Giro, we’ll do a specific build-up with more tests, and before the Games, we’re expecting Wout to go to altitude. That approach will, in my opinion, give him a major advantage over those riders who take part in the Tour de France. But whatever happens, this Saturday will give us a lot of useful information in some areas.”
Evenepoel has been training on his TT bike once or twice a week over the winter, his team say and he checked out the Albufeira course on Monday. Already a winner of the Algarve time trial back in 2022 when he last won the overall, the rider himself told reporters that he hopes that his time trialling will once again be enough to propel him into the yellow on Saturday.
However, the Albufeira course is ten kilometres shorter than 2022 when Evenepoel destroyed the field in the time trial, and has some very technical sections in the second half. Furthermore, even if it has 322 metres of vertical climbing - 100 less than in 2022 - a short, punishing climb with gradients of 12% could take its toll.
Evenepoel may be in the lead on Saturday evening, but given the challenges of the time trial, the differences, then, could still be small on GC.
It could well be that rather than the time trial, often the key factor en route to victory in the Volta ao Algarve, the very hilly stage to the summit finish at Malhao on Sunday proves even more decisive in the final outcome.
